Kingston University, London

Post-Doc, Department of Psychology

Other Affiliations: University of Sussex, Psychology
Swansea University, Psychology

About

My research interest at Kingston University involves exploring the mechanisms underpinning vicarious fear learning in children. In particular, my work explores which characteristics of associative learning are shared by vicarious learning (e.g., US revaluation, immunisation, second-order conditioning, occassion setting) - many of which have important prevention or treatment implications. My work also looks at whether threat-related attentional biases and physiological responses are acquired during vicarious fear learning and how lasting they are. Also looking at whether children’s vicariously acquired fear responses can be prevented and / or reversed, for example by training attention away from threatening stimuli, immunisation and latent inhibition, context-specific extinction and counter conditioning.

My other research interest is stimulus over-selectivity, particularly in children with autism and general learning disabilities. My research explores the processes and mechanisms of this effect, looking at attentional vs retrieval based theoretical explanations and potential remediations including extinction and revaluation, schedules of reinforcement, training regimes and a downward shift in reinforcer value.

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